Philadelphia and the Countryside - Press Room

Name: Amy Voloshin
Affiliation: Printfresh, MoonblooD, seamsters.net
Her Story: Rhode Island School of Design textiles grad and Urban Outfitters design alum Amy Voloshin is quite the reckoning force in local fashion. Founded in 2006, her growing textile-design company Printfresh operates out of an old bolt-works factory in Kensington, where she and her team create often vintage-inspired looks for J. Crew, Vera Wang, Elie Tahari, Anthropologie and oodles more international designers. Voloshin works alongside husband Leo, both at Printfresh and on MoonblooD, the couple’s beyond hip line of men’s and women’s printed T-shirts that can be found at edgy retailers, both

In 2008, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) conducted the Greater Philadelphia Food System Study to better understand the region’s food systems—all the processes involved in feeding a population, from growing and harvesting to processing and packaging. The study, released in January 2010, covers a wide range of food supply issues such as agricultural production, natural resources, the significance of the food economy and the people behind it all. Here are some key findings:

PHILLY FOODSHED: The region’s foodshed encompasses a 100-mile radius that extends from Center City, Philadelphia to 70 counties in five states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey,

This June, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, the William Penn Foundation and Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission launched Philly Homegrown™, a tourism and education campaign to position the Philadelphia region’s local food scene as a new, key feature of the destination. The region’s abundance of farm land, fresh food and accessibility to the Atlantic Ocean make eating local in Philly a given. Here are several additional local programs working to make eating local fun and easy:

• Buy Fresh Buy Local®: This national campaign builds the market for locally grown and produced foods. The Pennsylvania Buy Fresh Buy Local® chapters

Name: Judy Wicks
Occupation: Local food pioneer, social activist
Her Story: Dubbed the founding mother of the local food movement, Judy Wicks has fundamentally changed the way Philadelphians think of food, and she’s proven that it’s possible for businesses to be environmentally and socially responsible and profitable. In 1983, Wicks founded the White Dog Cafe on the first floor of her West Philadelphia home, eventually growing it to a 200-seat restaurant featuring fresh local food with a national reputation for community engagement, environmental stewardship, responsible business practices and leadership in the local food movement. (When she sold White Dog in

One hundred years ago, Philadelphia was known as the greatest brewing city in the Western Hemisphere, or the “Cradle of American Libation,” according to Craig LaBan of The Philadelphia Inquirer. In fact, it was in Philadelphia taverns that the American Revolution took hold. Today, area craft breweries have reclaimed the region’s reputation by brewing some of the world’s best beer and earning the recognition as Maxim’s “favorite beer burg,” among other notable designations assigned by the national press. Visitors can tour the facilities, sample the beer and pair the beers with food at most of these spots, and with more

Southeastern Pennsylvania is continuing to emerge as a major force in the nation’s wine industry. As wineries usher in changes that promise to significantly enhance their visitor experience, Pennsylvania wines as a whole are making steady gains in quality, quantity and recognition. The Commonwealth is the fourth-largest producer of grapes in the country, and 123 wineries operate within its borders, marking an approximate 500% increase over 30 years ago. And by winning awards at the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition, the Starwine International Wine Competition, the Los Angeles County Fair Competition and international

Today the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) released new numbers in its Tourism 2010 Report to the Region: Worth the Trip. The entire report is available for free on visitphilly.com/research. Here’s a look at just some of the important statistics inside:

Who Visited In 2009?:

• 36 million domestic travelers made a trip to Greater Philadelphia in 2009.
• More than 80% of them came for a leisure purpose (to have fun).
• 52.9% of day and overnight visitors came from the Mid-Atlantic region, underscoring the region’s accessibility by car. Philadelphia is within a five-hour drive of a quarter of

Restaurants, Bars And Entertainment:

• 500° – The latest venture of Rouge owners Rob and Maggie Wasserman, this burger joint features a simple yet oh-so-tempting menu of five types of 5.5-ounce handcrafted burgers, Bassetts ice cream milkshakes and regular, spicy and truffle french fries. Prices range from $6 to $12.50. 1504 Sansom Street, (215) 568-5000, 500degrees.com
• Alfa Bar & Restaurant – A daily happy hour, a decade-themed menu and expertly mixed cocktails named for 1980s icons bring in a crowd that’s ready to party. 1709 Walnut Street, (215) 751-0210, alfa-bar.com
• Alma de Cuba – Diners here enjoy savory dishes with

Eat, Drink & Be Merry:

• Adobe Cafe – This Southwest-style, vegetarian-friendly abode features house-made sangria, generous happy hour specials and Thursday night quizzo. 1919 E. Passyunk Avenue, (215) 551-2243
• Cantina Los Caballitos – Much like its younger sibling, Cantina Dos Segundos in Northern Liberties, the original Cantina offers modern twists on Mexican dishes like vegan fajitas and mahi mahi tacos—fare that washes down perfectly with a tequila flight or specialty margarita. 1651 E. Passyunk Avenue, (215) 755-3550, cantinaloscaballitos.com
• The Dive – Cheap beer, DJ nights, dance parties and pool tables define this aptly named bar. 947 E. Passyunk Avenue,

Historical Sites & Attractions:

• Wannabe sailors can spend the night in the nation’s most decorated battleship, the Battleship New Jersey, and take tours of the officers’ and crew’s mess halls, communications center and high-tech command center. 62 Battleship Place, Camden, (856) 877-6262, battleshipnewjersey.org
• Meet America’s most famous flag maker in her interactive 18^th-century upholstery shop at the Betsy Ross House. Visitors learn all about Betsy’s life and legend from the lady herself. In the summer months, enjoy free Colonial-style entertainment in the courtyard. 239 Arch Street, (215) 686-1252, betsyrosshouse.org
• Penny-pinchers and spendthrifts alike cash in on the

African-American tourism marketing campaign Philly 360°®. Now in its second year, the initiative focuses on expanding the destination’s current visitor base by attracting a new group of African-American travelers who are younger, technologically savvy and driven to an urban destination based on its contemporary cultural offerings, vibrant nightlife and overall buzz factor. The name Philly 360°® reflects a commitment to giving potential visitors a 360° view of the city’s current and historic tourism offerings.

At the core of the campaign are the Philly 360°® Creative Ambassadors, members of the city’s creative class who are known nationally for their work and

DESCRIPTION: Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts destination in the heart of Philadelphia and the centerpiece of the city’s Avenue of the Arts. The Kimmel Center consists of two freestanding performance halls enclosed beneath a spectacular 150-foot vaulted glass ceiling or, in the words of architect Rafael Viñoly, “two jewels inside a glass box.”

Notable architectural facts:

• 61,048 linear feet of structural steel tubing supporting the glass roof
• 1,400 tons of steel supporting the glass end walls
• 156,677 square feet (3.6 acres) of glass glazing

LOCATION: Broad & Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, PA

OPENED: December 16, 2001

The time was 1910 through 1920, the waning days of the “Belle Epoque” (or the “Beautiful Era”). The place was Paris, where a previous generation of artists had already changed the rules with their groundbreaking leap into Impressionism. The City of Lights was a magnet for artistic rebels who reshaped and redefined art, and the atmosphere was one of unprecedented imagination and creativity that would dictate how the world defined and interpreted art for the rest of the
20th century and beyond.

The first-ever Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), April 7-May 1, 2011, takes its inspiration from that

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) today launched visitphilly.com, the new, renamed tourism Web site that replaces the region’s popular and official tourism Web site, gophila.com.

WHY: GPTMC embarked on the new Web site project in order to achieve a dramatically enhanced Web site that strengthens GPTMC’s ability to market Philadelphia as a premier visitor destination to an ever-growing online audience.

NAME CHANGE: The new name, visitphilly.com, improves the marketability of the site by using words that are easy to remember and that say what we want users to do—visit Philly.

In addition, as consumer behavior leans more

In a time when people are questioning the purchase of everything from coffee to cars, Philadelphia and The Countryside® is worth the trip, according to 30 million visitors. On January 8, the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC) released its Tourism Industry Profile 2010: Worth the Trip, an industry snapshot that examines the thousands of reasons why people keep coming to the Philadelphia region—in other words, why it’s “worth the trip,” even in a tough economy. The 15-page publication takes readers through 13 years of tourism in Greater Philadelphia, which started as a day-trip city and grew to the premier

La Corporación de Mercadeo del Turismo en la Zona Metropolitana de Filadelfia o GPTMC (Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation) introdujo hoy visitphilly.com, la nueva y rebautizada página web que sustituye a gophila.com, la popular página web de turismo oficial la región.

POR QUÉ: La GPTMC acometió el proyecto de la nueva página web para introducir mejoras radicales que fortalecieran la capacidad de la GPTMC para colocar a Filadelfia en el mercado como la mejor opción de viaje ante un público cada vez más creciente conectado a la internet.

CAMBIO DE NOMBRE: El nuevo nombre, visitphilly.com, incrementa el potencial

Population:
There are 4.0 million people residing in the five-county region (7.8 million in the Philadelphia Designated Market Area), making Philadelphia the second-largest city on the East Coast and the sixth-largest in the U.S.

Location:
Philadelphia is a two-hour drive from New York City, two-and-a-half hours from Washington, DC and 45 minutes from Atlantic City, with convenient access to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I-76, I-95 and the New Jersey Turnpike. 25% of the United States population lives within 350 miles of Center City Philadelphia.

The city is a 90-minute flight or a one-day drive from Toronto (880 kilometers), Ottawa

The Barnes Foundation is proceeding with plans to move its art collection from its current location in Merion, Pennsylvania to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia. The relocation is in response to the need for a facility that can accommodate greater numbers of visitors than is possible in the current location.

THE MAN & HIS COLLECTION:

Who: Albert Barnes

• Born in Philadelphia to parents of modest means in 1872
• Graduate of Central High School and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School
• Made his fortune as co-developer of an antiseptic compound called Algyrol
• Strong belief in non-discriminatory access to art

Philadelphia is committed to the environment, as evidenced by Mayor Michael Nutter’s appointment of a director of sustainability in 2008. The position develops, implements and oversees the city’s environmental policies and initiatives to deliver the mayor’s promise to make Philadelphia the greenest city in America. The new position is just one of the latest efforts that shows the city’s commitment to reducing the region’s environmental impact.

In another pioneering venture for the city, the Greater Philadelphia Film Office (GPFO) will launch the second year of its initiative to encourage more eco-friendly practices during film production. The 2009 theme, Greener S.E.T.S.

For more than a century, the city of Philadelphia has been home to a number of prominent African-American artists who received academic training and created visual works of all media, contributing to the artistic and intellectual life of the city. Establishments like the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, art schools like Moore College of Art and Design and Tyler School of Art at Temple University and venues like Sande Webster Gallery and ArtJaz Gallery have provided important channels for the career development of African-American artists in Philadelphia. While the African-American art scene has blossomed and waned to varying degrees